Peace, would you believe I have lived here all my life and have never seen a native witch hazel.

I have the book, "Shrubs and Woody Vines of Missouri". If yours is a native it should be here.

They list three:

Ozark witch hazel, hamamelis vernalis, also called vernal witch hazel. fragrant yellow blooms Jan-April. Habitat: In gravel and rocky streambeds at the base of rocky slopes along streams, and rarely on wooded hillsides in rocky draws. Range: From Missouri and Ark. to Okla. Shrub height of 9 feet, sending up sprouts from the base.

Eastern witch hazel, hamamelis virginiana.
Tall shrub or small tree to 30 feet. Fragrant yellow flowers from Oct. to Dec. Habitat, moist woods on north or east facing slopes or in wooded valleys along streams. Uncommon in Missouri and restricted to the extreme southeastern part of the Ozarks.

Sounds like your is probably the first. It sure sounds like something I need!

Both species of witch hazel grow around here . The H.virginiana grows in our woods . I transplanted some by our house and in the old chicken yard .
I'd like to have a start of the other one , but I am getting where it is hard for me to dig up a start .
The blooms of the ones that I have come at a time that I am seldom around them , so if they are fragrant I've never noticed .

Marian

I've never seen with hazel either, and all the years i ran thru the woods, i'd have noticed. theres a mo.site, wild plants, that i can order, sounds like something i'd like.
brings to mind another-hazel nuts-i never see them wild anymore, yet when i was a child, i found a bush about 6' around in our woods. we used to gather them in the fall.

I planted a row of hazel nuts on our place a year or two after we built here ( '84 ) . They never have many nuts , but are interesting , and the squirrels like them . :-)
DH wasn't too happy that I planted them over the drain field . They eventually clogged up the pipes , and we had to have a new field put in !

I planted the fragrant witch hazel years ago and mine didn't do well. Does it need a lot of moisture? My yard has rocky "soil" and very good drainage. If you have it growing wild in the woods, I need to try again. Your description of the fragrance is tempting me. I love buffalo current and winter honeysuckle for the early fragrance. Just when winter is seeming endless you have a wonderful fragrance wafting through your yard.

I saw that the MO state nursury in Licking had some witch hazel this year. I'd really like to try some, but not this year, maybe next. I'm an Alaska-Missouri snowbird, so anything that blooms fall-winter-spring interests me! It's soon time for me to fly north, though. Not being here through the summer is pretty tough on the things I try to plant, and since it's been so extremely dry lately, I decided to wait on the witch hazel. Does anyone know how long they take to get established after planting?

Your plant is the vernal witch hazel. It starts blooming in January, and continues off and on through early spring. On warm winter days, the flowers really put out a strong scent to attract the stray pollinators. I really love these trees/shrubs. There can be quite a variation of flower color between individuals. These are found right next to creeks and need lots of water in a garden situation. They can often reach up to 10 feet if they are happy.

I got three of my four witch hazel from the state nursery. As best I can remember that was about four or five years ago. They bloomed for the first time this year but are still small. The fourth one was given to me by my sister. She dug it from creek side. It is the one that bloomed so pretty this year. I was surprised at how long the blooms lasted. I had planted it at the far corner of my my property. I wish it was closer to the house now that I know how good it smells.
Peace